Too often, risk management plans address technologies and markets, and fail to address internal issues such as
reorganizations, workplace politics, toxic conflict and reductions in force. In this program we explore a framework
for addressing the issues that arise as a result of human behavior — and misbehavior.
ffective risk management is a critical success factor for most projects. Although most of us can do a pretty
good job assessing technological risks, risks related to human behavior — and misbehavior — tend to resist many of our
best efforts.
This program provides executives, managers, project sponsors, project managers, and risk managers a framework for
assessing and monitoring risks that relate to human behavior — including the behavior of individuals, teams, organizations
and people in the larger context outside the organization.
Most risk managers are accustomed to dealing with factors associated with old and new technologies, markets, and "acts of
God." Human-centered risk is different from these risks, because objective assessment and evaluation requires acknowledging
personal and organizational limitations and past failures.
Since some of those limitations and failures might apply to
the risk managers themselves, or to their superiors, there is a tendency to deny their existence, to underestimate their
effects, or to invent alternative explanations for past performance disappointments.
In this program, we explore an approach to risk management that relies on two sets of tools. The first is a framework of
categories related to capability, organization, external context, risk management, and workplace politics. The second is a
set of principles for guiding the assessment and management of human-centered risk.
Using a framework encourages risk managers and their superiors to accept a more objective assessment of the realities of
human-centered risk.
Finally, because no methodology is universal, we show how to extend these tools to suit the needs of any specific
situation.
Program structure and content
We learn through exposition, application to simulations and cases, and post-program activities. We explore these aspects
of human-centered risk management, and apply models of group behavior to risk management. For example, we show participants
how they might:
Identify sources of risk in human behavior
Recognize systemic and individual barriers to acknowledging risk
Assess the effects of organizational turbulence
Determine the risk associated with inappropriate internal risk transfer
Estimate the effects of team dysfunction, toxic conflict and turnover
Measure changes in the impact of workplace politics
Become more skilled at choosing from among political options.
Workshop program
Below is an outline of the program:
Introduction
What is human-centered risk?
The ambiguity of "Human-Centered Risk Management"
Establishing the learning environment
Gauging the level of political safety in the organization
The Sources and Transfer of Human-Centered Risk
Sources of human-centered risk
Internal risk transfer: appropriate and not
Political causes of inappropriate risk transfer
Consequences of inappropriate risk transfer
A Framework for Assessing Human-Centered Risks
Categorizing human-centered risk
Identifying and dealing with risk denial
Understanding and managing risk transfer
Principles of Human-Centered Risk Management
Risk management contours
Relevant uncertainty
Situational awareness for risk managers
Continuously tracking risk plans
Extending the framework
Summary and wrap-up
What to do tomorrow
Monitoring your own learning
Resources for the future
Learning model
The learning model of this program is both conventional and flexible. It is conventional in that it can be presented in a
seminar format that emphasizes tools and techniques, using fictitious cases designed to illustrate their use. But at your
option, we can also include a "clinic" approach in which we address specific examples drawn from your own experience or from
your own immediate needs.
Target audience
Executives, leaders, managers, project sponsors, risk managers and project managers. We work either with individuals, or
with an entire team or with a group drawn from many teams.
Duration
Available in formats from one hour to one day. The longer formats allow for more coverage or more material, more emphasis
on your own immediate situations, and deeper understanding of issues specific to your workgroup.
Currently scheduled public events
At this time, there are no public events scheduled for this program. But if you would like to observe the program, I might be able to arrange an opportunity with a current client. Contact me for details.
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